The Future is Arriving — 2012

This paper tells the story of how North Carolina created a passenger rail program that is ranked among the best four in the nation.

Beginning in the 1980s, bi-partisan support from governors and legislatures supported passenger rail. Support from the Highway Trust Fund helped nance restoration of daily Carolinian train service between Charlotte, Raleigh, and New York City in 1990. The same year, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) organized the NC Volunteer Train Host Association, an organization of volunteers who began riding the Carolinian as goodwill ambassadors.